CABARET REVIEW

CABARET REVIEW; Evoking Several Famous Names at 18

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Published: February 15, 2002

Watching Peter Cincotti, the wiry, fresh-faced, 18-year-old singer and pianist hunched over a piano, a lock of hair brushing one eyebrow, conjures images of a very young Mel Gibson or Hugh Grant portraying the youthful Hoagy Carmichael in an imaginary film biography. Hugely talented, Mr. Cincotti, who is appearing at the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, has the sound to match his look. On top of his sophisticated jazz piano, he sings in a boyish, Sinatra-style baritone with a distinctively rapid vibrato.

The Oak Room, of course, was the launching pad for another pop-jazz prodigy, Harry Connick Jr., who was a star at the age of 20. Although comparisons are inevitable, the two are in fact very different artistic animals. Where Mr. Connick is a natural showman and expert mimic who flaunts his New Orleans roots, Mr. Cincotti is comparatively introverted. Interpreting lyrics with great care and enunciating with a precision that clarifies every syllable, he projects an ingenuous high-strung sensitivity.

Mr. Cincotti's pianistic idol, to whom he pays tribute with an elegant, supercharged rendition of ''After You've Gone,'' is Erroll Garner. Besides Sinatra's influence, other echoes that come into his singing include Bobby Darin and Jack Jones, although in Mr. Cincotti's hands they are purged of finger-snapping lounge-lizard mannerisms.

The show, which runs through March 9, is a carefully balanced mixture of vocals and instrumentals featuring Scott Kreitzer's tenor saxophone. Mr. Cincotti throws in two solidly made originals, ''I Changed the Rules,'' and ''Lovers, Secrets, Lies.'' The test of every male singer is his attunement to a ballad, and here Mr. Cincotti passes with honors. His earnest renditions of ''If I Had You,'' ''I Don't Know Why'' and ''Nevertheless (I'm in Love With You'') are infused with a youthful fervor and a personality that is all his own.

Photo: Peter Cincotti is appearing at the Oak Room through March 9. (Rahav Segev for The New York Times)